Letters to the Editor: Our health care falls short

Re: "Health care heats up north shore tea party, " Page 1, Sept. 20. U.S. Sen. David Vitter and Rep. Steve Scalise want us to believe that we have the best health care system in the world. Before you drink the Kool-Aid at the next tea party, you should ask them what kind of a ruler they are using to measure the quality of health care.

Twenty-one industrialized nations have lower infant mortality rates than the United States, and their people have longer life expectancies. Sorry, wrong ruler.

We spend the highest percentage of GDP on health care, pay the highest prices for drugs, one out of five of our medical insurance claims are denied and our citizens have the most bankruptcies in the free world caused by medical debts. Wrong ruler again.

Our politicians, Republicans and Democrats, get more campaign contributions from Big Pharma and health insurance companies than politicians in any other nation on earth. Maybe our politicians use a ruler with dollar signs on it.